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ORLANDO, May 24, 2013 – Online social networks can reveal alot. Including information about the relationshps of Ibragim Todashev, a 27-year-old mixed martial arts fighter and Chechen, that was fatally shot at his Orlando townhouse. During a meeting with FBI agents during which Todashev was allegedly being questioned about a triple murder that Boston Bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev is a suspect in, Todasheve was shot and killed, raising numerous questions in the minds of neighbors and revealing an interesting daisy chain of online links. Todashev lived, and was killed, in the Windhaven condominium complex located in Orlando, Florida, near the Universal...

The top commander of foreign-backed militants fighting against the Syrian government says the militants have received a 35-ton arms shipment from Saudi Arabia. Brigadier General Salim Idris, the chief of staff of the so-called Free Syrian Army, said on Thursday that the consignment will help armed men in their battles against the Syrian Army. He added, however, that the munitions are not advanced and sophisticated enough to enable the militants defeat Syrian government forces. The general noted, in particular, that the weapons will not be able to overpower tanks and planes in the strategic town of al-Qusayr, which is situated...

Current and former U.S. officials are reporting "Iran backed hackers have escalated a campaign against U.S. corporations" and have infiltrated "computer networks running energy companies." According to The Wall Street Journal, the Iranians "were able to gain access to control-system software that could allow them to manipulate oil or gas pipelines." Although Iran is not the only country or entity trying to hack into U.S. systems--China has been predominant in this area--officials are especially concerned with Iran because their goal is not the acquisition of intelligence or intellectual property merely, but "sabotage." For example, the theory is that the Iranians...

The threats emanating from Syria have become downright frightening. For the past several days, Homeland Security Minister Gilad Erdan has been warning repeatedly that it is certain that Israeli population centers will be hit by Syrian ballistic missiles and that we have to be prepared for the worst case scenarios, including Scud missile launched chemical weapons attacks on Israel's metropolitan centers. Wednesday, Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel spelled out Israel's concerns from a military perspective. The chance of war breaking out at any time is extremely high. Syria has a massive arsenal that includes advanced anti-aircraft missiles, anti-ship...

MOSCOW – A powerful earthquake on Friday hit Russia's Far East with tremors felt as far away as Moscow, about 4,400 miles west of the epicenter. Marina Kolomiyets, spokeswoman for Obninsk's seismic station of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told The Associated Press the epicenter was in the Sea of Okhotsk, east of the Russian coast and north of Japan. She said the quake registered 8.0 on the Richter scale.

President Barack Obama says supporting transitions to democracy in unstable regions like the Middle East will remain a key part of his strategy for fighting terrorism. … He cited as an example the need to support those in Syria who are fighting to overthrow the government. He cautioned, however, that ending tyranny in Syria must not give way to “the tyranny of terrorism.” …

The gilded lifestyle of MEPs has been compared to the uncontrolled excesses of ancient Rome after research showed their perks have not been dented despite biting austerity measures. From Italian MEPs who enjoy free haircuts to Maltese ones who get 52 free gallons of petrol a month, the perks—and expenses—continue unabated for the representatives of European Union nations. MEPs from the 27 EU nations are paid salaries of £137 million ($207 million) a year, according to research by German pricing watchdog Preisvergleich.de, and some earn 740 percent more than the average citizen. …

May 21, 2013 Yulia Ponomareva, RBTH Recruitment of military chaplains is stepping up a gear, as Vladimir Putin’s government builds on traditional Orthodox values to bolster patriotic feelings in society. On a snowy field in the Ryazan region, 100 miles southeast of Moscow, five burly, bearded Russian Orthodox priests fall to the ground, arms held skywards. They’re not praying, however – but preparing for their next parachute jump. Soon, the chaplains will take to the skies with regular military cadets in an Air Force plane, jump and pull the cord – hoping that God is watching over them, and their...

TEHRAN (FNA) - Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi described Iran's newly unveiled Herz air-defense shield as a very sophisticated system immune from enemy's jamming. The Iranian Defense Ministry on Monday started mass-production of a highly mobile home-made air-defense system.

The Pew Research Center’s latest survey on Europeans’ attitudes toward EU politics and economics brings across one message loud and clear: Europeans are not happy. People from every major country report extreme dissatisfaction with the economy and their political leaders. Increasingly, they also share a sense that the European Union and economic integration were mistakes for their countries: only 45 percent now view the EU favorably, down from 60 percent in 2012. The one notable exception is Germany, whose people remain the most optimistic about the European project. Despite Germans’ hand-wringing about their spendthrift neighbors, they gave the EU a...

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria may pull its peacekeeping troops from the Golan Heights, evacuating the U.N. buffer zone, its defence minister warned on Tuesday, as Syria and Israel exchanged fire across a long dormant frontline now inflamed by civil war. Vienna's warning was aimed at Britain and other allies which want to help Syrian rebels by lifting an EU arms embargo - doing so, minister Gerald Klug told Reuters, would rob Austrian troops of their neutrality in a Syrian conflict that has already seen foreign peacekeepers come under fire and some even held hostage. He stopped short of saying an...

President Barack Obama wants Russia to be friends. Since he and former president Dmitry Medvedev, now the country’s Prime Minister, discussed a “reset” of relations, the Cold War’s Punch & Judy have been more like frenemies than friends.

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A “secret” Facebook group of foreign correspondents and human rights activists quickly devolved into an anti-Israel hate-fest on Tuesday following the release of a new Israeli government report that cleared the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of wrongdoing in the 2000 death of a Palestinian boy. The Israeli government report contests the claim that the IDF killed a Palestinian boy, Muhammad al-Durrah, in a famous 2000 incident in Gaza that helped ignite the Second Intifada. Journalists and activists mocked the report, attacked the IDF, and claimed pro-Israel lobbyists were influencing the media coverage, in a private Facebook group for foreign correspondents...

She denies she was close to the Communist rulers in East Germany, where she grew up. So this 1972 photo of her in military-style uniform has left German Chancellor Angela Merkel ‘not amused’. Then called Angela Kasner and aged 17, she is shown happily involved in a civil defence exercise under the gaze of an East German officer. Snip Sonja Felssberg, now 58 and an old school comrade, found the photo and handed it to a national German newspaper. Mrs Merkel will hope the row doesn't undermine her bid for a third term in office Mrs Merkel will hope the...

Car bombs kill at least two in Russia's Dagestan AFP - Getty Images Police investigators work at a blast site outside a building used by court officials in central Makhachkala, Russia, on Monday. At least eight people were killed and more than a dozen injured in twin car-bomb blasts. By Steve Gutterman, Reuters MAKHACHKALA, Russia - Two car bombs killed at least two people on Monday in Dagestan, a turbulent province in Russia's North Caucasus region where armed groups are waging an Islamist insurgency. The mother of the two brothers suspected of the Boston Marathon bombing has told ITV News...

Appalling as the Benghazi, AP, and IRS scandals are, this dwarfs them all. This puts US national survival, and hundreds of millions of lives at stake. The head of Russia’s National Security Council has arrived in the US on a two-day visit for top-level talks on key stumbling blocks in bilateral relations. He will also deliver President Putin’s response to a letter President Obama sent in April. Putin aide Yury Ushakov confirmed on Tuesday that Patrushev is carrying the presidential letter and is scheduled to meet Obama. Among the US officials Nikolay Patrushev will meet during his trip is National...

President Again Denies Georgia Co-Opted Chechen Fighters April 28, 2013 Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has again denied that the previous Georgian government recruited and trained a group of Chechens with the aim of infiltrating them into the Russian Federation. Saakashvili was responding to what he termed “irresponsible” and “extremely dangerous” comments made by Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili in an April 26 interview with the TV channel Rustavi-2. Referring to the annual study of the human rights situation in Georgia presented to parliament on April 1 by Public Defender Ucha Nanuashvili, Ivanishvili said in that interview the ongoing probe into the...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) blasted members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday, which voted overwhelmingly to arm elements of the Syrian opposition in a bill co-sponsored by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN). "This is an important moment," Paul said, addressing his Senate colleagues. "You will be funding, today, the allies of al Qaeda. It's an irony you cannot overcome."

WASHINGTON - A Senate panel voted Tuesday to provide weapons to rebels battling the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the first time lawmakers have endorsed the aggressive U.S. military step of arming the opposition. ... "The greatest humanitarian crisis in the world is unfolding in and around Syria," said Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.), the committee chief. ". . . The United States must play a role in tipping the scales toward opposition groups and working to build a free and democratic Syria." Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the panel's top Republican, implicitly criticized the Obama administration as he...

MOSCOW – A delegation of American lawmakers will travel to Russia next week in part to investigate last month’s Boston Marathon bombings, ABC News has learned. The group, led by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., wants to find out why a 2011 Russian request that the United States investigate Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the suspected Boston bombers, did not raise more red flags. The Russians offered a vague warning that Tsarnaev planned to link up with extremist groups abroad, but an FBI investigation yielded no evidence to support those claims at the time. The lawmakers also want to know why subsequent...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) blasted members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday, which voted overwhelmingly to arm elements of the Syrian opposition in a bill co-sponsored by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN). "This is an important moment," Paul said, addressing his Senate colleagues. "You will be funding, today, the allies of al Qaeda. It's an irony you cannot overcome." The legislation, which would authorize the shipment of arms and military training to rebels "that have gone through a thorough vetting process," passed in a bipartisan 15-3 vote. Paul offered an amendment that would strike the...

Last week, TheBlaze reported that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan invited the father of one of the radical Islamist activists killed on the 2010 Gaza flotilla to join the official entourage on his visit to the U.S. last week. And while sources familiar with lat weekÂ’s visit told TheBlaze that the father did not enter the White House or meet President Obama to deliver a personal letter about his son, according to the Turkish foreign ministerÂ’s Twitter account Secretary of State John Kerry did meet with the father and even posed for a photo with him. The Turkish news...

... Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz, said the Israeli army vehicle had been patrolling on the Israeli side of a border fence when it came under repeated fire. "They fire on it once. They fire on it twice. They fire on it a third time, from a clear Syrian position," he said in a speech. "One time, okay. Two times, okay. Three times, too many. The position was destroyed."

Now the Iranian constitution requires a new president to be elected, and Rafsanjani’s entry into the contest radically alters what was previously seen as a contest between rival conservative groups. Not that Rafsanjani currently is more than a relative moderate – currently, because in his time he has veered sharply from side to side across Iran’s political spectrum; and relatively moderate because, although he now favours a domestic free market, privatization of state-owned industries, and a moderate position internationally, he is still sought by the Argentinian government for ordering the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires in...

At the entrance to this village in Hezbollah’s Bekaa Valley heartland, under a sign welcoming visitors to “The Citadel of Resistance,” workers on Monday hoisted a freshly printed banner honoring a young man described as one of Hezbollah’s latest martyrs — killed in battle not with Israel, the foe the group’s guerrillas train to fight, but with Syrian rebels. Down the road, another dead fighter’s uncle, Fayez Shukor, welcomed mourners under a tent overlooking the valley as the sun set on a day that had seen Hezbollah’s death toll rise to unexpected heights as the group joined Syrian forces trying...

AMMAN/BEIRUT - About 30 Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and 20 Syrian soldiers and militiamen loyal to President Bashar Assad have been killed in the fiercest fighting this year in the rebel stronghold of Qusair, Syrian activists said on Monday. Sunday's reported death toll was the highest for Hezbollah in a single day's conflict in Syria, highlighting the increasing intervention by the guerrilla group originally set up by Iran in the 1980s to fight Israeli occupation troops in south Lebanon. If confirmed, the Hezbollah losses also reflect the extent to which Syria is becoming a proxy conflict between Shi'ite Iran and Gulf...

Israel is acting to prevent Syrian weapons from reaching Lebanon's Hizbullah and will continue to do so, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, AFP reports. His remarks came two weeks after air strikes near Damascus that were widely attributed to Israel, which a senior Israeli source said were aimed at preventing the transfer of sophisticated Iranian arms to Hizbullah, the Lebanese Shiite ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Netanyahu said the Middle East was going through its most sensitive period for decades, with the conflict in Syria at the center of the turmoil. "We are closely following developments and...

A senior Hizbullah terrorist was among 20 members of the group who were killed in intense fighting in Syria on Sunday, Al Arabiya reports. According to the report, the Hizbullah terrorists were killed in the Syrian town of Qusayr, following clashes between Syrian rebels and regime forces who attempted to enter the town earlier in the day. Sources also told Al Arabiya that dozens of Hizbullah members were wounded during the fight and had been taken to hospitals in Beirut, Lebanon for treatment. .....

State TV says troops have captured key buildings in the town centre, a claim strongly denied by activists. Rebels say 50 people have been killed while state media says 70 "terrorists" are dead. Lebanese militants are said to be involved - Hezbollah siding with the government, Sunni gunmen with rebels. The town - close to the border with Lebanon - has great strategic value. Its control would give the government access from the capital to the coast. For the rebels, control of Qusair means they can come and go from Lebanon, says the BBC's Jim Muir, in Beirut. The assault...

Despite President Obama’s assertion on Thursday that he reserves “the options of taking additional steps, both diplomatic and military,” foreign intervention in Syria seems a distant prospect, and that, along with a string of military successes, has fueled the perception that president Bashar al-Assad now has the upper hand in his country’s bloody civil war. As Republican Sen. John McCain bluntly put it this week: "Right now, Bashar al-Assad is winning."

If there’s one thing you can say about Bashar al-Assad, it’s that he has staying power. For more than two years, the Syrian president has defied predictions that his downfall is imminent. His regime has certainly suffered many setbacks during the brutal civil war that shows no signs of ending, but it's clear right now that Assad and his followers have been gaining momentum. The most recent example came just a few days ago, when Syrian forces took control of a town near the highway that links Damascus to neighboring Jordan. After battles with the opposition, government troops reopened the...

A new investigation released by Wall Street Daily just revealed a disturbing pattern of price manipulation in the energy markets. The six-month investigation, conducted by renowned energy analyst, Karim Rahemtulla, was triggered by the incredible disparity in gas prices between the United States and Europe. The price of natural gas in the United States is presently about $4/mcf. Yet the price in Europe is upwards of $15/mcf. “Such mispricing simply cannot occur in an efficient market,” says Rahemtulla. For the global economy to function properly, the energy markets must be priced efficiently. It can be no other way. Any malfeasance...

A violent mob, including priests, broke down barriers and attacked marchers at a rally to mark International Day against Homophobia in Tibilisi, Georgia. Attackers were heard screaming, "Kill them! Tear them to pieces," according to witnesses. The march, in favour of LGBT rights ended in chaos as police struggled to evacuate the 50 marchers from Tibilisi's Freedom Square. They were taken to safety by special forces. The rally was condemned earlier by Patriarch Ilia II, head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, but he urged people to behave and restrain from violence. On the morning of the rally, priests gathered...

The Syrian army has begun deploying advanced surface-to-surface missiles and has aimed them at Tel Aviv, the British Sunday Times reports. According to the report, Syria is preparing to strike Israel in case the Jewish State launches another attack on its territory. The army has received orders to strike central Israel in case additional attacks against Syria are carried out, according to the Sunday Times. The information was reportedly obtained by reconnaissance satellites that were tracking the Syrian forces. According to the report, Syria was deploying advanced Tishreen missiles, which are capable of carrying a warhead of a half a...

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad said in a newspaper interview Saturday he won't step down before elections and that the United States has no right to interfere in his country's politics, raising new doubts about a U.S-Russian effort to get Assad and his opponents to negotiate an end to the country's civil war. In the capital Damascus, a car bomb killed at least three people and wounded five, according to Syrian state TV. It said bomb experts dismantled other explosives in the area. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group, said eight people were killed,...

Syrian strongman Bashar Assad said in a weekend interview to an Argentinean newspaper that Israel is assisting the rebels fighting to topple his regime. “Israel is directly supporting the terrorist groups in two ways,” he said. “Firstly it gives them logistical support, and it also tells them what sites to attack and how to attack them." Assad also told the Clarin newspaper said that rebels had attacked a radar station instrumental to Syria’s antiaircraft defenses against Israel, but gave no further details. The reporter asked Assad if he had any “self-criticisms." He replied: “It’s illogical to carry out self-criticism before...

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<p>CEOs of large organizations all face the same problem – driving their agendas in organizations too diverse and geographically dispersed to manage directly.</p> <p>They hire competent managers for their units, set goals and establish clear metrics for evaluating performance. As in politics, competition in business is tough, and CEOs must set ethical boundaries for their managers’ conduct.</p>

Japan Maritime Self Defense Force warships JS Atago, foreground, and JS Shimokita, at Pearl Harbor naval base, Hawaii. The superstructure of a third Japanese warship, the helicopter carrier JS Hyuga, can be seen at right. On the deck of Shimokita are ground vehicles and helicopters – shrink-wrapped to protect against salt air -- that will take part in major amphibious warfare training in southern California.Warships from Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Force have making stops at the American naval base at Pearl Harbor for more than two decades. But it’s going to seem strange, indeed, when Japanese ground troops clamor aboard...

On May 6, Russia received its first shipment of Sukhoi Su-34 twin-seat fighter-bombers (known by NATO as "Fullback"). The Su-34 is the newest generation of fighter-bombers intended to replace the outdated Soviet-era Sukhoi Su-24s. While the modernization of the Russian Air Force may — and rightfully so — raise a few eyebrows of concern, this alone is not sufficient cause for alarm. Russia’s recent air force maneuvers are, however. On the night of March 29, 2013, two Russian Tupolev Tu-22M3 bombers (known by NATO as "Backfires"), escorted by four Russian Sukhoi Su-27 fighters (known by NATO as "Flankers") passed extremely...

The Moscow city government has rejected an application for a homosexual march permit for the eighth year in a row, citing the need for “respect for morality” and patriotism, according to Russian media sources. “According to Russian law, we must work clearly and consistently on maintaining morality, directed to the teaching of patriotism to the growing generation, and not toward unclear aspirations, not to mention taking the city’s central squares and streets for this,” said Aleksei Mayorov, head of Regional Security for the city of Moscow, according to Interfax If homosexual activists defy the law and attempt to march as...

Senior Obama officials tell the US Senate: the 'war', in limitless form, will continue for 'at least' another decade - or two Last October, senior Obama officials anonymously unveiled to the Washington Post their newly minted "disposition matrix", a complex computer system that will be used to determine how a terrorist suspect will be "disposed of": indefinite detention, prosecution in a real court, assassination-by-CIA-drones, etc. Their rationale for why this was needed now, a full 12 years after the 9/11 attack: Among senior Obama administration officials, there is a broad consensus that such operations are likely to be extended at...

The Inspector General released a report this week and found that 63% of scrutinized IRS applications were withdrawn or were still unresolved. Conservative, Tea Party, pro-Israel and Christian groups were targeted by the IRS. (GRAPHIC-AT-LINK) The Obama IRS refused to grant tax exempt status to Christian and pro-life groups on behalf of the abortion group Planned Parenthood. “In one case, the IRS withheld approval of an application for tax exempt status for Coalition for Life of Iowa. In a phone call to Coalition for Life of Iowa leaders on June 6, 2009, the IRS agent ‘Ms. Richards’ told the group...

A United Nations agency has caused a firestorm after an official of the organization proudly posed with a map that only lists Palestine. The U.N. official posed with the map in which Israel did not exist in Lebanon, and the whole area from the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea was listed as "Arab Palestine." During a presentation of German-funded projects in Lebanon earlier this month, Ann Dismorr, the director of the United Nations Agency Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East in Lebanon, held up the map which included Jordan, Syria and other neighboring countries, but...

Israel Shipyards Introduces the SAAR 72 Mini-Corvette Design Israel Shipyards is expanding the SAAR class of missile boats, extending the range from missile boats into ‘Mini Corvette’ class vessels. The new class is addressing the growing requirements of Israel and other nations in extending maritime control and sovereignty far from their territorial waters. Defense-Update reports from IMDEX 2013. Visit IAI at IMDEX 2013 The Israel Navy is required to expand the security and responsibility over much larger area while doing that with an ageing fleet of Saar 4, 4.5 missile boats and 5 corvettes. If only to maintain the numbers...

After weeks of a 21st century version detente between Washington and Moscow over the declining state of affairs in Syria, and possibly looking at a joint situation to the ongoing civil war that has gripped the nation, it appears Russia has decided to stop cooperating and continue supplying their allies within the Assad regime. According to two U.S. media reports: Russia has deployed at least a dozen warships to its Mediterranean Naval base in the Syrian City of Tartus and sent a large shipment of anti-ship missiles to the Assad regime, which could be used to defend against any potential...

Report: Russia sends Assad 'ship killing missile' Russia delivers Yakhont missiles, warships to Assad; Lavrov: Arms deal won't change regional balance of power Russia sold advanced Yakhont antiship cruise missiles to Syrian President Bashar Assad, outfitted with an advanced guidance system that makes them more effective than the older version of the missile Russia sold to Syria, The New York Times cited two American officials as saying on Thursday. These missiles will allow Syria to thwart any attempt by international forces to reinforce Syrian rebels by imposing a naval embargo or no fly zone, Nick Brown the editor in chief...

Al-Hamad, who is Wahhabi (extremist Sunni) and harbors a sectarian hatred for Alawite and Shiite Muslims, said he has another gruesome video of his killing a government soldier from the Alawite faith. “Hopefully we will slaughter all of them [Alawites]. ... Human Rights Watch (HRW), which validated the video, released a report on May 13 identifying al-Hamad as a well-known commander responsible for the recent cross-border shelling of a Shi‘ite Lebanese village that killed two. The organization called on the U.N. Security Council to refer the Syria situation to the International Criminal Court to ensure accountability for all war crimes...

Russia’s Federal Security Service has publicly disclosed the identity of a man who it says is the CIA station chief in Moscow, in what experts say is a serious breach of intelligence protocol.